ISFJ

I've created monsters!

Tonight, I'm the owner of the filthiest Border Terriers in North America.

We've been doing the monthly earthdog practice a few times now. Ede does really well, barking and digging and trying to chew through the dowels in front of the rat cage in the tunnel. Atze hasn't quite gotten the point -he mainly digs, taking rather long breaks in between, and digging a little too far from the cage.

And then I took them to the banks of the Huron river today. They sniffed out the ideal freestyle earthdogging venue: two large rocks on the edge of the river, with a gap in between them, and a large rock on top. And the best part was, there was evidence of recent presence of a groundhog (or similar rodent creature).

It was mayhem. Boy, did they work it. Barking and digging and barking and more digging. It was muddy and filthy. People on the other side of the river stopped and stared at me sitting in my raspberry pink outfit on a rock above these mad terriers. We stayed for probably 30+minutes. When they finally emerged, both dogs were almost black from the mud. I was caked in it.

And we were all exhilerated. It was so much fun to watch them. And now they're completely pooped out, still barking in their sleep.

Fowl Play

Well, thank goodness we don't have to worry about those gangs of water birds or poultry being on the prowl again...

"Ann Arbor police are investigating the death of a small dog that was found in a cage in a trash bin near a townhouse along the 2600 block of Adrian Drive Saturday afternoon.

Lt. Angela Abrams said a neighborhood resident found the dead dog and called authorities. The owner of the townhouse was not home and police do not suspect any fowl play, Abrams said."


http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2007/07/dead_dog_found_in_trash_bin.html

1 more year

Last year, my brother and I packed up the red hat box containing my mother's ashes and took my grandmother's glorified sardine can on wheels up to Sylt, the northernmost German island in the North Sea. This is the island my family had vacationed on since my mother was a little kid, and she had wanted to have her ashes to be scattered in the sea there.

The problem was, it's against German law to scatter someone's ashes. As a matter of fact, it's against German law to keep someone's ashes in a private home. Don't ask me why they have decided to expend legal energy on such a frivolous matter. It did force us to be somewhat clandestine about our operation, which I would have secretly enjoyed (rebel that I am) if it hadn't been my mother's ashes.

It took us 5 hours or so to drive up to the train station where the car train leaves for the island (there's no bridge), though I'm afraid we stopped to pee more than the one time my mother usually alloted to this necessity. We were lucky to snag a spot on the upper level of the car train, which gives you a great view as you approach the island.

I hadn't been to the island for years, and of course things had changed a lot, but the essential stuff (the smell, the feeling of the salty air, etc) hadn't. We spent the night in a hotel, my brother watching a soccer world cup game, and I wandering the village streets and realizing yet again that everything does get smaller as you get older.

The next morning, July 2, we set out pretty early for the beach as to avoid curious onlookers. The supervised part of the beach we used to go to didn't extend as far north as it used to, which made it easier to find a less populated spot. I dumped the ashes from their triple-layer freezer bags into the hat box and put in some wild rose blooms and a bag of my mother's favorite candy for good measure.

My über-tall brother carried the box into the water with me following him (my first time ever actually submerging myself in that water in my entire life -separate story) and once he could barely reach the bottom, he took the lid off the box and pushed it away from us into the water until it sank. The tide was going out, so hopefully it was taking the box with it, but the ashes dissolved immediately. The rose blooms floated on the water for a while.

Another 15 seconds of fame

This time, in the NYTimes. Moving on up in the newspaper world ;-)

Ness in the NYTimes

Anticipation

I usually don't put much stock in the unconscious. I mean, if something's below the level of consciousness, it usually remains there -or, rather, it's kinda hard to discuss it. So much for the cynical part of me.

The second anniversary of my mother's death on July 2 has been sneaking up on me, unconsciously, that bastard. I knew it was coming and have been lucky that Karen and John have been willing to indulge my crazy idea to acknowledge the day on Monday by going for milkshakes at the ChickInn in Ypsi. It's this truly old-fashioned drive-in that happens to have been opened the year my mother was born. They have great milkshakes with freshly mashed banana, which my mother loved. So it seemed like an appropriate place.

I thought that making an explicit plan like this would prevent any of that unconscious nastiness, but I guess I was wrong. I've definitely started being on some kind of emotional edge. Nothing very specific. Just general anticipation of a day I know is somehow different. Last year, my brother and I scattered her ashes in the North Sea, the way she had requested, so we had something to do, and in a lot of ways, it felt like the conclusion of something. This year there's nothing to conclude, but there's also nothing beginning.

Wet Dog Fun

I've been wanting to go out on the Huron for a while, and finally I managed to get there with Henrike, Arthur, and Lidewij today. Of course Ede and Atze came along -true to his habit of seeking out the spot with the best view, Ede had to act as look-out.

Atze was more drawn to the water, and jumped in from the kayak for a lengthy swim. Contrary to habit, Ede wanted a dip too, but not for long:




As you can see, things got a bit wet with two thoroughly soggy dogs in the kayak, but it was a lot of fun.



Oh, and BTW, this is the 100th post to tis blog. Reason to celebrate?

More dog fun

We went back to earthdogging today, and were surprised when the people had also set up the equipment for terrier racing. Essentially, you have a long run, with a box of cages at one end (for the terriers) and a piece of rabbit fur tied to a rope that is attached to a wheelie-thingie at the other end. The idea is for the terriers to chase the rabbit fur. Ede and Atze loved it (Atze so much so that he almost destroyed the lure).

In the picture above, they've just been released, Ede is on the far left and Atze on the far right. In the picture below, they're half-way done, with Atze being out of focus on the left and Ede on the right. Good stuff!